canadian spaa Mowag Shark Wildcat 30, Canadian Swiss Cheese maker.

CaID · February 17, 2023

i would like to make a suggestion for an Swiss armoured car, one of the best of the Swiss armoured car ever built. but for the Canadian. the mowag Shark with Wildcat 30

THe Mowag Shark is a surprising large family of armoured car the was designed by Mowag in 1978 and the first prototype built in 1981. presented as basically a enlarged version of the Mowag Piranha 8X8 with more protection. the Shark was intended to be a wheeled tank and not really a IFV or APC like the piranha. more particularly for tank destroying role but also offer a large versatility of role due to the many turret that could be fitted. the chassis alone weight 16 tonnes and if intended to carry a turret up to 6 tonnes to give a weight of 22 tonnes but the weight was carefully studied to give an optimal agility with a 5 tonnes turret (the center of gravity would be in the exact center of the vehicle). the Shark feature a high quality suspension and high protection. but this come to a cost which was the price itself. the Shark was much more expensive than the Piranha who was often capable to carry the same turret. despite of a high publicity campaign, and trial in different country including Germany, Canada and Switzerland, no order came for the Shark. 3 prototype was built from 1981 to 1983 and the mass-production was ready in July 1983 but this production never took place.

in this suggestion we will focus more precisely on the Mowag Shark Wildcat 30. the fact the suggestion start with a Canadian flag and not a Swiss one is no mistake. By the rules of the suggestion, this version fall to a Canadian branch and not a exactly a Swiss one because it was officially tested by the Canadian army. this version was built in 1984, very likely out of the same chassis of the Shark that was mounting the LATS turret. this version feature a Krauss-Maffei Wildcat 30 turret. this vehicle was first built in Germany as a private venture them it was tested in Belgium by the Canadian who saw interest in this vehicle. in 1984 Canada was opening a competition for a low-level air-defence on which many industrial bid. those industry offered different concept of air-defense for the Canadian army who was proposing a 600 millions dollars contract to be sealed in 1986. Euromissiles offered their system in partnership with Krauss-Maffei. this concept was coming in 2 elements. the first been their Roland SAM system mounted on a MAN truck. this system was providing coverage on medium range from the rear and for the front-line, offering the close defence, their system was completed by either a Fuch or a Shark mounting the Wildcat 30 turret build by Krauss-Maffei. the Shark offering very high mobility and pretty decent protection was perfectly capable to advance close to the front-line and fallow the armoured column. this make this vehicles well adapted to engage low flying aircraft and helicopters. other company was also in competition, including British Aerospace in partnership wth the Italian OTO Malara who proposed the Rapier system on a tracked vehicles and a SIDAM 25 turret on the M113, Oerlikon-Contrave teaming up with Martin Marietta and Raython whith the ADATS turret on M113 and a Twin 35mm GDF-005 towed AA. Thomson-CSF with General Motors Canada, General Electric and Litton Systems Canada offering the Crotal SAM and GAU-13/A turret which could be mounted on the Piranha who was license produced in Canada or the Shark as well. so basically this competition was offering a lot of good concept. but one winner could only come out victorious and this was Oerlikon-Contrave with the ADATS on the M113. while the Wildcat 30 turret was still proposed for export and tested in other nation, the attempt with the Shark pretty much ended there as Mowag soon gave up their hope to sell the Shark a few years later (i recall it was in 1985 or 1986) to focus on the Piranha. the Shark Wildcat 30 actually survived up to this day and can be found in a German Museum at Kiel

Firepower

The main armament are a pair of 30 mm Mauser Mk30-F, this auto-cannon is intended to be used as anti-aircraft but it is also capable of been used against ground target, this armament was notably used on the Puma IFV. as anti-aircraft, this armament will feature a very high fire-rate. but this fire-rate come with a huge flaw. the ammo load is vary small. the vehicle only carry 500 rounds, which give only 18 to 19 secs of fire. this weakness is fairly well compensated by the Radar, tracking radar, Stabilizer, laser range finder and thermal vision that is featured in the Wildcat turret. this allow the vehicle to have much more accuracy and you need to use less of those precious bullets to hit the targets.

+ Laser rangefinder

+ Night vision
+Termal Camera
+Tracking radar
+Radar (18 km range)

2x 30 mm MK 30F
Capacity (magazine)		firerate	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Rotation speed (°/sec)	Reload (sec)
500 (2x 250)		2x 800	-10°/+85°	±180°	Two-plane	40	10.0

Penetration statistics
Belt	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
Belt	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
MK266	3	3	3	3	3	3
PMC308	47	44	36	28	22	17
APDS	87	86	81	75	70	65
PMC287	121	119	111	97	93	83

Belt details
Belt	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
Belt	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	0%	50%	100%
MK266	HEI-T*	1,080	0.36	0	0.1	54.4	79°	80°	81°
PMC308	Ahead	1,100	0.36	0.2	1.5	0.8	79°	80°	81°
APDS	APDS	1,225	0.1	N/A	N/A	N/A	75°	78°	80°
PMC287	APFSDS	1,405	0.1	N/A	N/A	N/A	78°	80°	81°

Mobility

the Shark is powered by a General Motors Detroit Diesel 8V-71 T developing 530 hp at 2500 rpm. this was intended to give a power weight of 25 hp/ton at the weight of 21 tonnes. the shark is designed to offer a high speed on rough terrain with a top speed of 80 km/h off-road and climb very sharp slope of 70% angle. that mean that the Shark was basically capable to hunt his target on any terrain. the Allison automatic box model HT-750 DRD off a 5 forward speed and 1 backward. it is coupled with an auxiliary two-speed transfer box and four self-locking differentials that can be coupled, two to two or all four, pneumatically by the driver depending on the terrain conditions or driving needs. the centre of gravity with a 5 tonnes turret was carefully studied to be placed at exactly 1.25m from the ground right between the 2nd and 3rd axes, which is basically the centre of the vehicle. each wheel have independent suspension. the two middle axes aren't steerable; their suspension is build with shock absorbers and their wheels beign mounted on oscillating arms connected to torsion bar. the first and last are steerable and hydraulically assisted. they are having suspension by wishbone, oversized helical spring and hydraulic damper. the prototype was fitting Michelin 13.00 x 20 tubeless tires

with the Wildcat turret, the weight shall reach about 17.5 to 18 tonnes as the turret is eastimated to be about 1.5 to 2 tonnes (based on the Fuchs version of the Wildcat and the Fuch without anything) which make it pretty light. this mean sound good to be lighter and it would normally be. but not on the Shark as the weight was studied to be perfectly balanced with a 5 tonnes turret and this turret is too light. that will move the center of gravity fairly well backward which led to a lower agility.

Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Forward	Reverse	Weight (tons)	530		30.29
100	20 ?	Ca. 17.5

Protection

The protection of the Shark was intended to allow it to be used fairly close to the battlefield. but retaining a good weight which was carefully studied to give a perfect balance on the vehicle. the armour was offering a protection against 14.5mm KPV armour piercing round or 155mm HE round at 10m on all side. the armour was build with high-resistance armour plates and sloped on all side to improve the protection while retaining a light weight. this make the chassis have a a protection similar to the Italian Centuro B1 (without add-on armour). this make this vehicle have the protection similar to a light tank except certain tank like the Russian BMP who have rather terrible armour. in the case of the turret, the armour is only effective against small-arms, that mean about 8 to 10mm of armour on all side. there is a gunner inside of the turret but he have the chance to be between the both gun, the radar and the sight, making it kind of hard to get as those device sort of add-up to the protection. a total of 3 men is needed to operate this vehicles

* this fallowing armour thickness is estimated based on the protection efficiency reported and knowing the armour been made of HHRhA

Armour

Front

Sides

Rear

Roof

Hull

20 mm (30°) upper glassis
20 mm (40°) lower glassis

20 mm (60°) top
20mm (60°) bottom

30mm (0°) under the tower

20 mm (50°) bottom

25 mm (20°) top

12 mm

Turret

8 mm

6 mm

Specifications
Mass	17,5 tonnes (assumed)
Length	7.52 m
Width	3.00 m
Height	1.90 m without turret
Crew	3

Armour	against 14.5mm AP round on all side (chassis)
Main armament	2x 30 mm Mauser Mk30-F
Secondary armament	None
Engine	General Motors Detroit Diesel 8V-71 T developping 530 hp at 2500 rpm
Suspension	varipous, depending of the wheels
Ground clearance	450 mm
Maximum speed	100 km/h (60 mph) , off-road: 80 km/h (48 mph)